


telepathy (the other side)

by ikijai



Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: F/F, Panicking, Pre-Slash, idk what to tag, just saying, this idea makes me happy, yolanda deserves more spotlight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 01:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10798938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikijai/pseuds/ikijai
Summary: Yolanda Kipling has never truly allowed herself to feel anything all the way. But when Regina Diaz turns to peer at her with those wide, umber eyes perfectly highlighted under powdery-blue eyeshadow, she feels the whole world pump through her.





	telepathy (the other side)

Yolanda Kipling has never truly allowed herself to feel anything all the way. But when Regina Diaz turns to peer at her with those wide, umber eyes perfectly highlighted under powdery-blue eyeshadow, she feels the whole world pump through her.

They've been best friends since the beginning of time, but Yolanda can't help but to wonder if Regina ever thinks about what it would be like to kiss her too. As kids, life was hot summer days and endless laughter. As teens, it’s backup singing and thinly veiled desire for whatever the world has to offer.

Yolanda knows the way she feels isn't exactly smiled upon, but it doesn't feel _wrong_. If she's telling the truth, nothing has felt more opposite to wrong than the way she feels about her best friend turned singing partner. She can't pinpoint when exactly she stopped praying and started wishing, but she knows what'll be in her thoughts tomorrow and next week and probably until the end of time: the pretty girl she's always looked up to even though she's two months older. The one with the voice of something that could only come from up above and the perfect smile that infects everything it touches. She's never really thought about boys in any way that isn't platonic, but Regina, well, she thinks about her in all kinds of ways.

Dizzee always talks about how being _uniquely free_ is okay, but is this what he means? Sometimes, when they're painting their nails together or just being peaceful, she thinks she’ll tell him. But something always gets stuck inside her throat before the words try to escape. Telling Dizz (who she knows will be perfectly okay with it) sounds easy until they're right there and her plan tragically withers away. It's been this way for a while but she still can't bring herself to talk about the wonderful thing prowling inside her. Not yet.

The phone on top of her dresser rings and she picks it up almost instantly because she knows who it is. She always does.

“Yolanda?”

Just as she knew–inside the phone and not in person like she would prefer.

Yolanda twirls the phone’s cord around her pinky before settling down on the windowsill. “Yeah?”

“You comin’ tonight?”

 _Tonight_ is inexplicably important for The Soul Madonnas. Everybody who's anything in the world of performing is going to be there and the knot inside Yolanda’s stomach is as tight as ever. It's always an internal war. She wants her girls to get everything she knows they deserve in life, but being under those burning lights with innumerable pairs of eyes watching stirs a panic inside her even after so many performances.

In order for them to make it out there, she knows that she's got to be a part of the iconic trio they've turned into. And though it's something she's always wanted, it’s terrifying when it's _there_. Dizz is usually the one who talks her down, but occasionally, Regina will come through and turn her worries into a thing of the past.

It's about to be the 80s, and everything the three of them have ever wanted is at the tips of their fingers and they're doing it _together_. Just like Dizzee, Boo-Boo, Ra and Zeke. _They're living their dreams_ , so why is it so difficult and so impossible for Yolanda to walk all the way to the other side too?

When they were 12, they played dress up and exhausted their lungs into pretend microphones to the tune of Donna Summer. But now, it's really happening and it’s overwhelming and improbable in the same instant.

“You know it,” Yolanda utters into the phone. She's glad Regina can't see the tremble to her fingers, but she knows she can hear it in her voice.

“Yo,” Regina says, softer than the wind and more prominent than the sun, “you know you don't have to come if it's too much. We understand.”

And they do ( _understand_ ) on an unspoken level that's been permanent for years. Yet still, Yolanda feels that she owes this to them. Performing while under the pressure of thousands is like an unyielding weight, but she still owes it to them.

“Just need some time,” Yolanda whispers and she wonders if Regina can hear her at all at this point. The pause feels like an eternity.

“You got this.”

And there's that word:  _you_. That's all Yolanda needs to put on that sparkly lipgloss and those too-high heels: Regina’s will along with her intimate trust.

She pictures it now, dancing beside her two best friends in the whole world and trilling her heart out until she’s breathless. If she's lucky, Regina will pull her in from behind and she'll pretend the universe isn't stirring inside her upturned lips at the proximity. People will be watching and none of that will be important compared to the way she sings with her girls like the night will play over and over.

For an instant, they'll be 12 years old and wearing too-big dresses. Their audience will be their parents or whoever hasn't become tired of hearing them perform yet.

“Yeah,” Yolanda declares into the phone, watching as the stars twinkle outside her window just like their trio will tonight. Though she can't see Regina from where she is, she knows there is a smile upon her angelic face. "I got this.”


End file.
